In our increasingly digitized world, people should be able to access readily available government information at their fingertips, including on municipal websites. These sites can and should offer a slew of information to taxpayers ranging from financial reports, facility availability, and city services. When this information isn’t available or hasn’t been updated, residents can be left frustrated and exasperated.
Unfortunately, there is an overwhelming trend of municipalities neglecting to update their websites, with 75% of planning boards failing to post meeting documents online, 75% of towns not posting meeting documents online, and a mere 35% of villages posting meeting minutes online.
During the flurry of the final few days of legislative session, we were able to pass a bill (S.3353A) which requires municipalities to comprehensively maintain websites. In 2024, there is no excuse for a village, town, city or county to not have a website that is regularly updated and provides citizens with basic information about the operations of their local government. This legislation, once signed, will go a long way towards ensuring residents have access to basic
information about their community.
